Cabinets are well known in the art. Generally, cabinets include a pair of side panels, a rear panel, a top panel and a bottom panel attached together through a variety of means. Commonly, the panels are attached together through screws, nails or the like. Often several shelves are horizontally attached within such cabinets to allow objects to be organized and stored by the user.
Frequently, doors are utilized to isolate the interior of the cabinet from the remainder of the user's environment. For instance, it is well known in the art to provide a flat panel that is attached by a mechanical hinge which is pivotable between an open position and a closed position. Although such devices perform adequately, some users have found that such doors have several drawbacks as well. Namely, such devices require a substantial amount of clearance for the door to be pivoted into the opened position. This limitation for cabinets constructed with a flat panel door has proved to be undesirable when the space in which such doors are utilized is limited.
Various advancements have been suggested to overcome the above disadvantages. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,822 to Potter suggests a cabinet having a roll-top, or tambour door. Specifically, the tambour door suggested by Potter includes a plurality of rigid members, or slats, that are pivotably interconnected through a link structure, or mechanical hinge. Accordingly, each rigid member can be pivoted relative to a neighboring adjacent rigid member. In addition, the link structure to Potter also includes a plurality of rollers that engage a channel disposed on the cabinet such that the rigid members may move along the channel between an open and closed position.
Although the device to Potter advances the art, one can appreciate that such devices may be substantially improved upon. First, Potter utilizes mechanical hinges to provide the tambour door with the necessary flexibility. However, mechanical hinges oftentimes have a tendency to become jammed while in use do to the fact that the door is comprised of a discrete set of members each of which is rigid. Furthermore, the radius of curvature that such tambour doors may achieve is often defined by the number of mechanical hinges. Accordingly, one skilled in the art can appreciate that increasing the number of mechanical hinges may result in improved performance; however, doing so would result in an overall increase in labor and manufacturing cost.
Other tambour doors have been suggested to improve the art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,978,020 to Paulsrude and U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,533 to Bron each suggests providing a door constructed from a plurality of rigid members with each rigid member being connected to an adjacent rigid member by a pliable connector. These devices allow the members to be pivotably interconnected; however, these doors also have several disadvantages. First, tambour doors constructed in accordance with the above do not allow for the user to easily remove a particular member. Accordingly, these tambour doors do not allow the user to remove members that have become damaged with use. Further, the members can not be easily disassembled for storage or shipment.
In addition to the above, it is well known that cabinets may be assembled through a variety of separate attachment mechanisms such as nails or screws. Yet, utilizing such attachment mechanisms also has several drawbacks. Specifically, for the user to assemble the cabinet with such an attachment mechanism, the user is required to perform a substantial amount of labor. Also, when it is desirable to ship cabinets disassembled for assembly by the user, the user is often required to have several tools and to be somewhat adept in construction techniques. Finally, great care must be exercised by the manufacturer when the cabinets are sold disassembled. Attachment devices such as nails or screws are commonly lost or misplaced during shipment.
One skilled in the art can best appreciate that the cabinets of the above mentioned character could be substantially improved upon. Specifically, it would be desirable to have a cabinet where each member of the tambour door is capable of being separated from association with the other members, thereby allowing each member to be shipped and stored in a compact manner. It would also be desirable to have a cabinet where the tambour door operates more effectively. In addition, it would be desirable to have a tambour door that is not prone to become jammed while in use. Also, it would be desirable to have a tambour door that reduces the labor costs associated with assembling and attaching the mechanical hinges necessary to provide flexibility to the door.
Also, it would be desirable to have a cabinet that includes an attachment mechanism which is capable of attaching each of the panels together without the use of traditional attachment mechanisms which require a substantial amount of technical skill. Finally, it would be desirable that any such attachment mechanism be designed to reduce or eliminate the opportunity for the attachment device to be lost or misplaced prior to use.